Tiny Free House Update – Roof Framing Begins
The weather was perfect for working outside this past weekend. It was cool, dry, and overcast. In fact I just beat the rain, which started as we headed home Sunday evening. I’m certain the perfect weather was a big part of why I was able to get as far as I did. I would have built more roof trusses but I ran out of long pallet wood.
It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to make time to work on the Tiny Free House and it feels great to have the walls up and the roof started. I think I have enough standard pallets stacked up for the siding and just need a few more long pallets to build the remaining roof trusses. This week I’ll be on the lookout for long pallets and some kind of metal roofing. I’m thinking a little outside the box for the roofing. I’d like to use some kind of recycled metal like #10 cans. But we’ll see what I find.
The field at the farm is plowed and ready for planting. The local farmer that leases and works the land is going to plant organic feed corn this year. He was planning on planting this weekend but probably held off due to the weather. It will be interesting to watch the corn grow as the tiny free house is completed.
I’ve posted a longer update on the Tiny Free House blog if you want to hear more about my free pallet house.
About EDAR
EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof) is a 501(c)(3) charity that provides unique mobile shelters to those living on the streets all around us. Each EDAR is a four-wheeled mobile unit which carries belongings and facilitates recycling during the day and which unfolds into a special, framed tent-like sleeping enclosure with a bed at night.
http://www.edar.org/
I wonder if you could use the tops and bottoms of cans as shingles?
You could get all your friends and family to take off the tops and bottoms of cans to give to you and recycle the rest.
They would already be fairly flat and uniform in shape.
Hi DJ,
I was actually thinking of cutting the cans open and flattening them to make large 7″ by 19″ steel shingles. Then my wife, Julia, suggested I use the top and bottom as shingles like you describe in the eves. Crazy cool idea huh?
I suspect local restaurants, like pizza places, would hold cans for me. Back in college I worked in a lot of pizza places and we went through dozens of #10 cans a day.
I think I’d need about 220 of them for the roof.